Defense Technology International - December 2007 - (Page 8)

AROUND THE WORLD NEWS BRIEFS MALE ENDURANCE Italy’s Sky-Y medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE)-surveillance unmanned aerial vehicle made an 8-hr. ﬂight over the Vidsel test range in northern Sweden recently, setting a European endurance record for a UAV of over 1,000 kg. (2,200 lb.). The ﬂight was the culmination of tests that started in June, says manufacturer Alenia Aeronautica. The Swedish trials involved seven ﬂights covering 235 veriﬁcation tests. Alenia describes Sky-Y as a demonstrator for critical technologies like diesel propulsion, surveillance and reconnaissance, data links and data processors. Sky-Y is the development platform for two other Alenia Aeronautica projects: Molynx, for land surveillance and civil protection roles, and an undisclosed military project that the company says is “similar to or higher than top-class systems on the market.” I ALENIA AERONAUTICA LIGHTER, REFILLABLE ENERGY PACKS A diesel-fueled, lightweight power source for dismounted soldiers may relieve combat troops of carrying up to 20 lb. of batteries to meet power demand for their equipment, if a Dutch technology demonstrator program goes into development and production. The two-year E-Lighter program, run by Stork Aerospace, ended in November with delivery of a prototype to the Netherlands Defense Materiel Organization. ELighter, integrated in a carbon ﬁber cylinder (far right), generates 15 watts of 15volt power for 12 hr., says Mike van Lankveld, engineering director of Stork’s Special Products Div. Together with two beer can-sized diesel-reﬁll packs, which bring the total duration to 48 hr., it weighs just 1.8 kg. (3.9 lb.). Mission length can be extended by carrying addi8 tional reﬁll packs. “Advantages are weight reduction for soldiers and relief for the supply chain, which no longer has to make sure replacement batteries are brought forward to the troops,” says van Lankveld. “Diesel fuel is normally available, and E-Lighter also runs on JP-8 jet fuel.” Noise is below 40 dB., and in- frared emissions and exhaust fumes are suppressed. Stork says E-Lighter can be ready for series delivery by late 2009. I STORK AEROSPACE PHOTOS DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL DECEMBER 2007 www.aviationweek.com/dti http://www.aviationweek.com/dti

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Defense Technology International - December 2007

Defense Technology International - December 2007 Contents Around the World Science Watch Tech Watch BrahMos: Ramjet Ship Killer r-e-s-p-e-c-t Deja Vu Trump Card Dubai Demos Agile Helos Joint Force Online Charge UGVs Creep, Crawl to Victory Sweet Ride Fast, Lethal Ship Defense Networking Stealth: Why Raptors Can't Talk The Net Cutting Edge First Person In Review Insight

Defense Technology International - December 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.